SA organisations leading the environmental training pack

A growing number of SA’s big names and government departments have opted to up-skill staff through carbon and energy training despite no current legislation and a “failed” climate change deal in Copenhagen last year. By building internal capacity to measure, reduce, monitor and report on greenhouse gas emissions, South Africa is demonstrating clear commitment to fighting climate instability.

GCX would like to commend these government departments and organisations for demonstrating leadership and vision by investing in carbon and energy training.

Government:
•    The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism,
•    The Department of Transport and Public Works, Western Cape
•    The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Companies:

These organisations now have the first-mover advantage and others will have to play catch up as the legislation gets closer to being implemented.

"Greenhouse gas emission reporting by industries will soon be mandatory in South Africa and non compliance shall be met by penalties. It is therefore to the benefit of industry to take the lead in reporting greenhouse gas emissions to avoid such penalties and litigation risks" said Buyelwa Sonjica, South Africa's Water and Environmental Affairs Minister in October 2009.

Due to statements like these and SA’s proposed 34% emission reduction targets, GCX believes SA could see a carbon tax enforced by 2010.
Another major driver is the King 3 Report, which came into effect on 1 March 2010 that requires companies to submit an ‘Integrated Report’ which stipulates that financial and sustainability reporting be integrated into one report, and that positive and negative impact of operations be disclosed. In order to meet these reporting requirements, companies need to train their employees to measure the company’s carbon emissions throughout operations. As the famous saying goes “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” so in order to manage carbon emissions, you need to be able to measure them first. The GCX Carbon Footprint Analyst course (link to http://globalcarbonexchange.co.za/certified-carbon-footprint-analyst-level-1.html) teaches employees how to conduct their organisations carbon footprint which establishes a benchmark for that organisations total annual carbon emissions.

It’s a no-brainer for leading companies who see that educating and training their employees improves business profitability and helps to achieve sustainability goals.  Furthermore, Environmental and Sustainability Education and training for staff has added benefits such as: improved operational efficiency and supply chain management, strengthened customer relationships and community ties, increased innovation, as well as the attraction and retention of valuable employees.